Operations

Strike Causes GM Loss of Fleet Sales

May 8, 2008
• by Staff

The ongoing strike at American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. caused a 16 percent drop in sales in April, said General Motors Corp.’s (GM) sales analyst, according to CNNmoney.com. This included 15,000 in sales to fleet customers.

Workers at American Axle, a supplier of parts for GM’s full-size pickup trucks and SUVS, have been on strike since February, causing slowed or stopped production in about 30 GM plants. A strike at GM’s Delta Township, Mich., plant cost about 7,000 to 8,000 units of production of its large crossover utility vehicles, said CNNmoney.com.

GM hopes to recover the lost fleet sales this year, and plans to make up the production after the strike is over.

A trend noted by GM is that prices for cars and crossover utility vehicles will rise due to higher commodity costs and regulatory demands, said CNNmoney.com. Fewer pickup trucks and SUVs will be sold, as consumers purchase cars and crossover utility vehicles, and this change will cause auto makers to lose some revenue.

Ford's president and chief executive of its Canadian market, Mark Buzzell, will return to the U.S. as the director of North American Fleet, Lease and Remarketing Operations starting Jan. 1, Ford has announced.

Bobit Business Media has been acquired by Gemspring Capital, a middle-market private equity firm. Bobit, which bought HDT in 2012, was founded by Ed Bobit in 1961 with Automotive Fleet and today is a successful business-to-business media company in the fleet, transportation, beauty, and law enforcement industries.

Bestpass has saved commercial fleets more than $100 million in toll-related savings, the toll management provider announced. Its clients range in size from independent owner-operators to mega-fleets with thousands of vehicles.

The procurement function of researching, negotiating contracts, and purchasing fleet vehicles must harmonize with the management of those assets, so the corporation can achieve the most efficient and best utilization of a fleet’s vehicle lifecycle.